DAI Young admits his Wasps side lost out to the better team after falling to a first defeat of the 2016/17 season away at Aviva Premiership and European champions Saracens.
Wasps had enjoyed their best start to a season in 20 years after winning their first five matches to go top of the Premiership table.
But that impressive run came to an end at the Allianz Park Stadium on Sunday where Wasps put up a brave fight after being 13-8 down at the break but they eventually lost out 30-14.
“I think that the best team won,” said Young. “Sometimes you have to be honest and put your hand up and accept that. We had chances and didn’t take them while they had chances and took theirs.
“We’ve lost to the reigning Premiership and European champions so I’m not going to start tipping coffee cups in the dressing room, but we have to learn from this and that’s the crucial thing, keep pushing ourselves to get better and keep closing the gap.
“We’ve had a really good start to the campaign and I know I’ve kept banging the drum after we’ve won games about having lots to improve on and having a team that’s still developing but Sunday was another example of that.
“We’ve come to the home of the double champions and they’ve had a little bit too much for us. It’s not all doom and gloom, it’s the first game that we’ve lost and if you’re going to lose to anyone it would probably be to the double champions.
“The crucial thing now is that we learn from this and get better. Teams are not going to let us have our own way, they’re not going to let us play the rugby we want to and we have to work on finding another way.”
Saracens took the lead in the fourth minute of play when Mako Vunipola powered his way over and Wasps had to wait until 13 minutes before half-time to get their first points on the board thanks to a Jimmy Gopperth penalty.
Alex Lozowski restored the five-point advantage with a penalty of his own before Wasps were level again thanks to some brilliant play by Danny Cipriani who broke around the blindside and produced an excellent dummy to set up Josh Bassett who crossed for his third try in three games.
In the final play of the first half, Mike Ellery went over in the corner to to put Saracens five points in front again at the midway point in the match.
Seven minutes after the re-start Wasps cut the deficit to two points thanks to another Gopperth penalty.
In the 54th minute Lozowski landed a straightforward penalty to take the score to 16-11 before again another Gopperth penalty narrow the gap back to two points with 13 minutes remaining.
Saracens responded immediately with a series of charges for the line and the pressure eventually told in the 69th minute when Jamie George forced his way over near the posts and Lozowski’s conversion took the hosts nine points clear.
Josh Bassett was shown a yellow card for a high tackle with seven minutes remaining and Saracens made the most of their one-man advantage with Jamie George touching down for his second try and replacement Ben Spencer settled the match by slotting home the conversion.
A first defeat means Wasps go into the block of European fixtures in second place in the Premiership, two points behind Saracens, and one ahead of third-placed Bath.
